Intense storms swamp portions of Delaware County, closing streets due to high water
Flash flooding swamps portions of Delco
Areas in Lansdowne, often flood-prone, were swamped Friday as severe thunderstorms dumped heavy rain to the region, shutting down streets.
LANSDOWNE, Pa. - The intense storms on Friday flooded out streets and neighborhoods across the region, including in Lansdowne.
What we know:
Lansdowne Chief Ken Rutherford said flooding usually happens on Union Avenue at Fairview Avenue but this time it was worse.
Richard Deshield’s house is feet away from the floodwater and said he came home to it after experiencing flooding at his high school.
"Every time it rains it floods right here but never like that," said Deshield. "The parking lot in front of the school, teachers’ cars got stuck. We had to push them out. A hallway in our school got flooded and we had a lockdown."
Dagemawi Alemayehu pulled his car over during the storm to let it pass but didn’t realize this area was prone to flooding.
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A strong thunderstorm rolled across the Philadelphia area on Friday, touching off widespread tornado warnings in parts of New Jersey and flooding rain.
"I wanted to like wait it out over here but that was kind of like a mistake," said Alemayehu. "Little bit of water came seeping into the sides. That’s when I was like, ‘Okay, I need to probably get out. I don’t know how much worse this can get.’ By the end it was actually halfway up the seat I’d say."
Alemayehu called his dad for help and luckily after the flooding receded away from his car, it started up again.
"In this case I thought I was going to have to tow it and what not," said Alemayehu. "I’m really glad I was able to start up."
Intense storms:
A borough worker cleared debris away from the storm inlet on Union Avenue making way for the flooding to drain out.
In all, the flooding lasted just over a couple of hours.